Top fastening rim with closure and handle



Jan; 17, 1967 N. G. WEITZMAN TOP FASTENING RIM WITH CLOSURE AND HANDLEFiled March 22, 1965 Has;

INVENTOK NORMAN 6f M/E/TZMAA/ Patented Jan. 17, 1967 3,298,562 TOPFASTENING RIM WITH CLOSURE AND HANDLE Norman G. Weitzman, ArnoldProvisor, Attorney at Law, 16401 Knapp St., Sepulveda, Calif. 91343Filed Mar. 22, 1965, Ser. No. 441,614 1 Claim. (Cl. 220-94) Generallyspeaking, the present invention relates to the merchandise vendingmachine art and, more particularly, pertains to a top fastening rim foraimerchandise receptacle of a merchandise vending machine, with said rimhaving a fold-away carrying handle which may be folded down against saidtop fastening rim So as to be completely inoperative and unobtrusive,and to not in any way interfere with the fastening to said rim of aconventional permanent type closure cap or cover means, which isnormally locked and fastened thereover when the merchandise vendingmachine is positioned at a merchandising location ready formerchandising operation. Under such circumstances, the fold-awaycarrying handle is inoperative and completely out of sight.

However when a route operator or service man who regularly checks suchvending machines and normally removes coins from a money receptacle,and/ or, provides a fresh supply of merchandise for the vending machinemakes a call he normally will unlock and remove the permanent type topclosure cover means and effectively interchange the completemerchandising receptacle and, in some cases, the complete merchandisevending machine also, with a fresh merchandise receptacle or completemerchandise vending machine which has already been filled with freshmerchandise, thus eliminating the necessity of the service man handlingthe merchandise and refilling a partially empty merchandise receptacleat a merchandising location. It has been found that such interchangingoperations are faster and more sanitary and, in those instances wherethe complete merchandise vending machine is so interchanged, the coin ormoney receptacle portion of the machine need not be opened by theservice man at the merchandising location but may be returned unopenedto the factory or central moneyremoving and counting depot or location.This has advantages of the same type referred to above with respect tothe interchanging of the merchandise receptacle, which eliminates thenecessity of the service man actually handling the merchandise in orderto remove old merchandise and replace same with fresh merchandise at theactual route location. In other words, this arrangement eliminates anynecessity for the service man, at the actual merchandising machinelocation, handling and removing coins from the coin receptacle.

It should be clearly noted that the improved apparatus of the presentinvention, comprising the above-mentioned top fastening rim having theabove-mentioned fold-away carrying handle, may be employed under eithertypes of circumstances briefly referred to abovethat is, where only themerchandise receptacle itself is interchanged and/ or wherein thecomplete merchandise vending machine is interchanged, and, in eithercase, the unlocking and removal of the permanent closure cover means mybe required in order to make it possible to remove the merchandisereceptacle for such interchanging thereof and/ or to make it possible toremove the complete merchandise vending machine for such interchangingthereof.

Normally, a service man servicing a route comprising a plurality of suchmerchandise vending machines stationed at a plurality of differentmerchandise vending locations will start on his route with a pluralityof such replacement merchandise receptacles, and/ or completemerchandise vending machines with the receptacleshaving been previouslyfactory prefilled with fresh merchandise and, in

order to avoid inadvertent loss of any such merchandise as a result ofany jostling movement being imparted thereto during the transporting ofsame along the route to each of the plurality of merchandise vendingmachines stationed at merchandising locations, it is desirable toprovide some sort of temporary or auxiliary service cap or cover overthe open top of each merchandise receptacle until it replaces itscorresponding merchandise receptacle which has been previously stationedat any of said plurality of merchandising locations. Also, such atemporary or auxiliary service cap for each of the open replacementmerchandise receptacles will prevent contamination of the freshmerchandise therein by any exterior foreign matter, since such exteriorforeign matter will be prevented from entry into the top openings ofsaid replacement merchandise receptacles by said temporary auxiliaryservice caps or covers thereover.

The above-described temporary use of such temporary auxiliary servicecaps or covers may also be desirable for the original merchandisereceptacles removed from their route locations and returned to thefactory or central supply depot by the service man.

It will readily be understood that whenever either an originalmerchandise receptacle at any one of said plurality of merchandisinglocations is to be lifted, moved, or placed in the service mansautomobile or truck for return to the main factory or supply depot, andwhenever any of said replacement merchandise receptacles is to betransported, lifted, and/ or moved at any time during the transportingthereof from the central factory or main supply depot to each of theplurality of merchandise vending machines and, when there, is to belifted and fastened to the base portion of the corresponding merchandisevending machine and/or to fixed supporting means adapted to carry same,the previously mentioned fold-away carrying handle mounted on the topfastening rim of the present invention becomes extremely useful since itmay be pivotally swung into a vertical plane and manually grasped forhandling, moving, and/or carrying any one of said merchandisereceptacles and/or complete merchandise vending machines under certaincircumstances.

It will be noted that an important feature of the novel fold-awaycarrying handle of the present invention is the fact that it hasportions which act to fasten and hold the previously mentioned temporaryor auxiliary service cap or cover over the open top of the correspondingmerchandise receptacle as long as desired so that it will notaccidentally become dislodged therefrom and yet which will readily allowmanual removal of the corresponding temporary auxiliary service cap orcover from the open top of the corresponding merchandise receptaclewhenever desired and prior to replacement over said open top of saidmerchandise receptacle of the previously mentioned permanent typeclosure cap or cover means, which, of course, is not done until thefold-away handle is folded down into horizontal engagement with acorresponding half portion of the fastening rim carried by the top ofsaid merchandise receptacle.

With the above points in mind, it is an object of the present inventionto provide novel apparatus of the character referred to herein havingany or all of the advantages referred to herein, generically and/orspecifically, and individually or in combination, and which is ofextremely simple, inexpensive construction adapted for ready massmanufacture at very low cost whereby to be conducive to widespread usethereof.

Further objects are implicit in the detailed description which followshereinafter (which is to be considered as exemplary of, but notspecifically limiting, the present invention), and said objects will beapparent to persons skilled in the art after a careful study of thedetailed description which follows hereinafter.

For the purpose of clarifying the nature of the present invention, oneexemplary embodiment of the invention is illustrated in thehereinbelow-described figures of the accompanying single drawing sheetand is described in detail hereinafter.

FIG. 1 is a reduced-size, three-dimensional View illustrating onetypical exemplary type of merchandise vending machine carrying oneparticular exemplary type of merchandise receptacle at the top thereofand, immediately thereover and in normally closing relationship withrespect to the otherwise open top of said merchandise receptacle, apermanent type closure cap or cover means, which is normally lockedthereover with the merchandise receptacle being filled with any desire-dtype of merchandise which is to be controllably vended by themerchandise vending machine in response to the insertion of the properamount of money, in the form of one or more coins, into the coinreceiving apparatus and the subsequent operation of the dispensing meansmade permissible by receipt of said proper amount of money. However, theinvention is not limited to the type of merchandise vending machineillustrated, but may be employed with a great variety of different typesof merchandise vending machines.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary view, taken substantially along theplane'indicated by the arrows 2-2 of FIG. 1, although it is drawn to asomewhat larger scale than FIG. 1. This view clearly illustrates thenormal mounting of the permanent type top closure cap or cover meansover the otherwise open top of the merchandise receptacle, with thefold-away carrying handle carried by the fastening rim of the apparatusof the present invention being in the horizontal inoperative fold-awayposition which in no way interferes with the fastening of said permanenttype closure cap thereover.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary view of slightly more than one-half of the topportion of the apparatus, taken substantially on the plane indicated bythe arrows 33 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary view generally similar to FIG. 2 in manyrespects, although it is taken substantially on the centrally offsetplane indicated by the arrows 44 of FIG. 1 and is, therefore,perpendicular to the plane of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a three-dimensional view of the top portion of the merchandisereceptacle of the merchandise vending machine, with all portions thereofpositioned therebelow broken away for reasons of drawing simplificationand clarity and with the permanent type top closure cover means of FIGS.14 removed. Also, this view shows a temporary auxiliary service cap orcover means temporarily positioned across the otherwise open top of themerchandise receptacle and the top fastening rim thereover andtemporarily held in covering relationship with respect thereto by thefold-away carrying handle, which has been pivoted into an erectoperative position for use in carrying the entire device.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary view, taken substantially on the plane indicatedby the arrows 66 of FIG. 5 with central and bottom portions thereofbroken away for reasons of drawing simplification and clarity. Also, itshould be noted that this view is drawn to a larger scale than FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a view taken on substantially the same plane as FIG. 4, butshows the apparatus with the permanent type closure cover means removedand with the temporary auxiliary service cap or cover means mountedthereon as a temporary replacement therefor and retained in saidtemporary mounted relationship by said fold-away carrying handle, which,incidentally, is shown in this figure in a horizontal folded positionsuch as it would normally assume when being transported to or from themerchandising location of a merchandise vending machine in a motorvehicle, or the like. In other words, the foldaway carrying handle isfolded down in FIG. 7 in order to minimize the space required for samein the service mans automobile or truck during the transporting of samefrom a central supply depot to any one of a plurality of merchandisevending machines for replacement purposes, or when transporting anoriginal removed merchandise receptacle from a route location back tothe central supply depot.

Generally speaking, the apparatus of the present invention is adapted tobe mounted at the top of a merchandise receptacle, one exemplary type ofwhich is generally indicated at 11, which is carried by a merchandisevending machine, one exemplary type of which is generally indicated at12 in FIG. 1.

It will be noted that the particular type of merchandise receptacle 11shown in FIG. 1 is substantially rectangular, as seen in top plan viewor as seen in horizontal section at any horizontal plane thereacross,although the corners of said merchandise receptacle 11 are slightlyrounded. However, this is exemplary only, and the apparatus of thepresent invention may be employed with merchandise receptacles of avariety of different shapes and/or sizes, all of which arrangements ofthe present invention are intended to be included and comprehendedherein.

. In the exemplary arrangement illustrated, the merchandise receptacle11 has a substantially rectangular top edge 13 which has firmly fastenedthereto a substantially rectangular structure which may be generallytermed a top fastening or retaining rim, generally designated at 14,which has a lower horizontally directed substantially rectangular baseportion 14B and an inwardly offset upstanding inner vertical wallportion 14W, with said base portion 143 being shown as abutting asubstantially rectangular compressible gasket member 15 and being heldin said abutting fastened relationship with respect to said gasket 15and said top edge 13 of the merchandise receptacle 11 by a pair oflaterally spaced, downwardly directed tie rods 16 which have headedupper ends 17 lying in recesses 18 in corresponding vertically aperturedfastening cars 19 integrally carried by opposite side parts of said baseportion 14B of said top fastening and retaining rim 14.

The lower ends of said tie rods 16 are threaded at, or below, thelocations indicated at 21 and pass through apertures 22 in a ringportion 23 rigidly, but controllably removably, carried at the top ofthe lower mechanism housing portion 24 of the vending machine 12 and arethere threadedly fastened thereto (either directly or effectively by wayof threaded nut means or other fastening means), thus firmly drawing thecomplete top fastening rim or ring 14 downwardly against the gasket 15and against the top edge 13 of the merchandise receptacle 11 andproviding an effectively unitary structure for the complete upperportion of merchandise vending machine 12. In other words, said tie rods16 act to positively lock the merchandise receptacle 11 with respect tothe controllably removable upper part 23 of the lower mechanism housingportion 24- of the merchandise vending machine 12.

The arrangement just described is particularly suitable where themerchandise receptacle 11 is made of glass or other frangible material,although it may also be employed when the merchandise receptacle 11 ismade of transparent plastic or other transparent material.

Also, in the exemplary arrangement illustrated, the merchandise vendingmachine 12 is normally provided with a permanent type closure cap orcover means, such as is generally designated at 25 and which is adaptedto be held over the inwardly offset upstanding inner vertical wallportion 14W of the top fastening and retaining rim or ring 14 whereby tocompletely cover same in the manner clearly shown in FIGS. 1-4. Thefastening of said permanent type top closure cover means 25 in saidclosing and covering relationship is provided by a central tie rod 26,which has a bottom portion which normally passes centrally downwardlythrough an aperture 27 in the upper part 23 at the top of the lowerportion 24 of the vending machine 12 and which then normally passescentrally down to the base of said mechanism housing bottom portion 24of the vending machine 12 and is there fixedly attached with respectthereto. (This is not shown since this is conventional and comprises nopart of the present invention.)

The upper end of said central tie rod 26 is threaded, as indicated at28, and is adapted to be controllably threadedly engaged within theinterior threaded bore 29 of a fastening and locking means, generallyindicated at 31, which comprises a cylindrical lower portion 32rotatably received within the effective cylindrical opening 33 in saidtop closure cover 25 and adapted to be rotated therein in response toinsertion into the key slot 34 of a proper key (not shown).

In other words, the upper portion 35 of said locking means, generallydesignated at 31, comprises a downwardly directed boss 35 fixedlycarried underneath the closure cap or cover means 25 and which, ineffect, comprises the non-rotatable outside of a rotatable lock having aplurality of tumbler means therein which normally protrude outwardlyinto the boss 35 and prevent rotation of the entire inner lock assemblycarried above, and rotatable with, the interiorly threaded lower portion29. In other words, only insertion of the proper key in the key slot 34will allow rotation of the interiorly threaded lower portion 29 of thelocking structure 31 within the boss 35 which will, of course, allowthreaded relative advancement or retraction with respect to theexteriorly threaded upper end portion 28 of the central tie rod 26whereby to either draw the permanent type top closure cover means 25firmly downwardly against the top fastening rim 14 or to disengage samefor removal of the top cover means 25.

While the novel top fastening rim 14 apparatus of the present inventionis well suited for cooperation with the specific type of vending machine12, merchandise receptacle 11, and permanent type top closure covermeans 25, and also with respect to the specific type of lateral tie rods16 and central tie rod 26 and key-operated looking means 31, it shouldbe noted that the apparatus of the present invention may cooperate witha variety of other types of merchandise receptacles, permanent type topcover means, and/or fastening and locking means therefor.

In the exemplary form illustrated, the inwardly offset upwardly directedupstanding vertical wall portion 14W of the top fastening and retainingrim 14 has opposite side parts (in the example shown, the two designatedat 14W), provided with horizon-tally aligned apertures 36 provided withand rotatively mounting the inwardly alignedly directed projections 371of a bail or handle member, generally designated at 37, and which, inthe exemplary form illustrated, is of generally rectangularconfiguration substantially corresponding to the shape of one half ofthe top fastening and retaining rim or ring means 14 whereby to beadapted to lie on said half portion thereof when folded away into ahorizontal plane, as is perhaps best shown in FIG. 3, wherein it will benoted that said bail or handle member 37 is shaped in substantiallyexact correspondence with the shape of the corresponding portion of saidtop fastening and retaining rim or ring means 14 and lies in a positionthereon such as to allow the previously mentioned permanent type closurecap or cover means 25 to be positioned thereover and to engage said rimor ring means 14 without being in any way interfered with by saidfolded-away ball or handle mem-. ber 37. This relationship is clearlyshown in FIGS. 24, inclusive.

However, it will be readily understood that when the permanent typeclosure cap or cover means 25 is removed by a service man, the bail orhandle member 37 may be pivoted into the upstanding operative positionbest shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 to allow it to be used for facilitating thelifting and carry-ing of either just the merchandise receptacle 11 andthe top portion 23 of the merchandise vending machine 12 (said topportion 23 thereof effectively comprising the bottom of the merchandisereceptacle 11) or may be used for lifting and carrying the completemerchandise vending machine 12 for the purpose previously detailed. Thismay be done without mounting a temporary auxiliary cover across theopentop of the merchandise receptacle 11 and the top fastening andretaining rim or ring means 14 or may be done after the mountingthereacross of such a temporary auxiliary closure cover means thereoverfor retention and protection purposes during the lifting, handling, andtransporting of merchandise receptacle 11, as previously outlined.

FIGS. 5 and 6 illustrate such a temporary auxiliary resilient servicecap or closure cover means which is generally designated by thereference numeral 38 and which comprises a resilient panel member 39having a pair of spaced downwardly directed edges 41 adapted to beslipped over the corresponding upstanding inwardly offset wall portions14W and to then have the central portion of said panel 39 forciblyresiliently deflected downwardly between the other two upstanding wallportions 14W until it lies below the level of the horizontally alignedapertures 36 therein and also below the inwardly directed projections37? normally rotatably mounted in the apertures 36 for rotatablymounting the complete bail or carrying handle member 37 in the mannerpreviously described in detail.

Of course, it will be understood that during the mounting of thetemporary cover 38 in the manner just described, it will be necessary toresiliently outwardly force said projections 37F to a degree sufiicientto allow the central part of the panel portion 39 of thetemporary cover38 to be forced below the level of the aligned apertures or holes 36,after which said inwardly directed projections 37P may be allowed toresiliently move inwardly in the apertures 36 into the retainingrelationship most clearly shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. This is made possibleby reason of the resilient nature of the material of which the bail orhandle member 37 is made, usually being resilient spring metal or anyother substantial functional equivalent thereof. It will be noted thatremoval of the temporary cover 38 merely comprises the reverse from themounting operation just described.

Incidentally, it should be noted that the handle 37 may be pivotallyswung or folded downwardly from the upright operative position shown inFIGS. 5 and 6 into an inoperative minimum space position as shown inFIG. 7 when the merchandise receptacle, with the temporary cover 38thereover, is to be transported from one location to another by meansother than the handle 37, such as in a truck or automobile or the like,or when the merchandise receptacle is at rest.

It should be understood that the figures and the specific descriptionthereof set forth in this application are for the purpose ofillustrating the present invention and are not to be construed aslimiting the present invention to the precise and detailed specificstructure shown in the figures and specifically described hereinbefore.Rather, the real invention is intended to include substantiallyequivalent constructions embodying the basic teachings and inventiveconcept of the present invention.

I claim:

A substantially rectangular, as seen in top plan view, top retaining andfastening rim member for the corresponding substantially rectangularupper edge of a merchandise receptacle of a merchandise vending machine,said retaining and fastening rim member having a lower horizontallydirected base portion adapted to contact the upper edge of themerchandise receptacle and having an inwardly offset upstanding innervertical wall portion adapted to normally receive and mount thereover apermanent type substantially rectangular closure cover means when themerchandise vending machine is fully assembled, said inwardly offsetupstanding inner vertical wall portion having opposite side partsprovided with horizontally aligned apertures provided with, androtatively mounting, a substantially rectangular bail and handle memberwhich is shaped in exact correspondence with the shape of correspondingoutside surface parts of said inner upstanding vertical wall portionbetween said horizontally aligned apertures r-otatively mounting saidbail and handle member and extending along parallel adjacent parts ofsaid upstanding vertical Wall portion and along a transversely directedinterconnecting part of said vertical wall portion and thus, whenfolded-away onto the corresponding upper surface parts of saidhorizontally directed base portion of said retaining and fastening rimmember, causing said handle member to lie immediately outside of saidcorresponding outside surface parts of said upstanding wall portionthereof and immediately inside of the corresponding parts of thepermanent type closure cover means for the merchandise receptacle whenmounted thereover, said bail and handle member being controllablyrotatable from its horizontal folded-away position into an upstandinguse position after removal of the permanent type closure cover means,thus providing a convenient carrying handle member for carrying themerchandise receptacle from one location to another and for facilitatingremoval and replacement thereof; and a temporary auxiliary resilientclosure cap means for said top retaining and fastening rim member whenthe permanent type closure cover means has been removed therefrom, saidauxiliary closure cap means being placed thereacross and in overlappedengagement with a pair of opposite side parts thereof and having anintermediate portion forcibly resiliently deflected below the level ofsaid horizontally aligned apertures rotatably mounting said bail andhandle member and having top parts of said auxiliary closure cap meansresiliently forcibly engaged and retained by portions of said bail andhandle member extending through said horizontally aligned apertures,providing a temporary closure cap for the merchandise receptacle when itis to be moved by said carrying handle member after the permanent typeclosure cover means has been removed from said retaining and fasteningtop rim member.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 940,757 11/1909Wagner 220-91 1,616,288 2/1927 Taliaferro 220 2,985,335 5/1961 Bliss22092 3,212,666 10/1965 McLeod 22095 LOUIS G. MANCENE, Primary Examiner.

RAPHAEL H. SCWARTZ, Examiner.

